For the most part, making this meal is easy; you really just need a skillet, a stove, and about 10 minutes. However, there’s one small problem, and it’s an issue we’ve encountered with every one of Gardein’s Meals for Two. The meals come with a packet of frozen sauce that’s supposed to be thawed in hot water. Unfortunately, the massive packets are simply too large to thaw out as the meal cooks.

We’ve found a simple workaround to this, and we recommend you use it when you cook these meals at home. Thaw the sauce as recommended, but when your meal is almost fully cooked, you should cut the packet open and add the partially frozen sauce to the pan. From there, you can break up the frozen chunks, let the sauce melt, and stir the meal until it’s ready to eat!

Now, we knew we were going to like this one while it was still in the pan. Even when it’s cooking, it looks and smells incredible.

It tastes great too! The taco sauce is fairly mild, but it still has a bit of heat to it, and it adds a lot of flavor to the meal. The combination of rice, beans, tomato, and corn, mean that every bite is tasty, even if it doesn’t contain any of Gardein’s chik’n. As for the faux meat, it’s a pretty decent match for real chicken, especially when it’s slathered in sauce, but it’s not a perfect imitation. The taste is fine, but the texture isn’t quite right; it’s a little bit chewier than the real thing.

This is advertised as a meal for two, and we’d definitely recommend following that guideline. This may not look like a ton of food — a full bag is 580 calories — but it is very filling. You could easily polish off a bag yourself, but if you do, you’ll probably regret your life choices. Instead, we’d recommend combining it with something light, like a salad.

We advise against eating an entire Gardein Chick’n Fiesta Skillet Meal in one sitting, but we strongly suggest you give it a try and share it with someone! Whether you’re looking for simple vegan dinners or you’re simply drawn to delicious frozen meals, this is definitely an appealing dish. We’ve enjoyed all of Gardein’s meals for two, and this one is no exception.

To learn more about the cooking instructions, ingredients, or nutritional content for this Gardein skillet meal, check out our package scans below.